Inside out
by merdarkandtwisty
Summary: April grew up in Iowa, Alex was her teenage sweetheart and now the hospitals are merging and they are face to face again after seven years only this time he's married and she knows all his secrets. Will they find each other again or will life rip them apart again. AK2
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Grey's Anatomy.

Alex walked into the resident's locker room and stopped in his tracks. His vision was tainted by orange so much orange. That wasn't what had made him stop thought. No that had been her, standing against the locker her brown locks straight and a red note book in her hands.

"What's wrong with you?" he turned to Izzy and tried to smile.

"Nothing, nothing at all I see the Mercy Westerns have descended. "

"Yeah." Izzy scrunched up her nose. "I can't believe they put them in orange so ugly. That bitch over there took George's cubby." She pointed to a short girl next to the one that had caught Alex's attention.

"Did you try to explain to her?"

"Explain to her." Izzy scoffed. "Come on we have to go and get our orders for the day." He followed her out of the locker room but his eyes lingered on the girl in the corner.

Her eyes lingered on him as he walked out and though he was a man now a doctor like her she still saw him as a teenage boy smiling at her as he stood outside her daddy's house holding a bunch of flowers and begging her for a date to the prom.

"What's wrong with you?" she shook her head and turned to her friend.

"Nothing, nothing lets get going before all the good cases are taken." She stuffed her red book in her pocket and walked towards the other residents.

She was assigned to the pit and rushed of. It was crazy but she still caught glimpses of him. And every time she did she felt like she was seventeen again. "Get your head in the game." Lexie Grey snapped at her. "Where have you been I know Karev is hot but he has a wife so don't even go there." April Kepner felt her heart stop. A wife he had a wife. She racked her brain had her mother said anything about Alex getting married. She didn't think so but then again no one had really heard from Alex in seven years so that wasn't surprising and even if her mother had said something it was unlikely that she would have remembered it in all the craziness that had been the merger. She put her head into the case rushing off to surgery with Doctor Shepard but she couldn't help but give one backward glance to him.

He watched her rush off and his mind wondered back through the years her in a flowing red dress her hair a pile on her head. The stars twinkling around them. He hadn't known she was in Seattle but then again he didn't try to keep up on things going on at home in Iowa. So of course he wouldn't have known. He'd left Iowa after he went to Med school and he never looked back not at his family and certainly not at April Kepner. Now she was in the hospital and it scared him. She knew so much about him so much that no one in this hospital or this state knew about him. He tossed his gloves into the trash and went to get lunch he needed to clear his head.

"I stole it." Lexie waved the red book in the air. Alex froze.

"Give it here." He said.

"No." Lexie slipped it into her pocket. "I can't do that I read it and Now I feel bad I can't let you read it to."

"Why steal it then." Alex shook his head but his heart could beat normally again he didn't have to save it and be tempted to read it. It seemed she hadn't mentioned him in it or Lexie would have been all over that.

"Where are they?" Cristina looked around the lunch room.

"What do you mean?" Meredith asked.

"Hey." Izzy said sliding a cup of coffee in front of Alex.

"Hey." He picked up the coffee and sipped it looking up at Izzy he reminded himself he was married, married to a women he really loved married to a girl who he promised forever to.

"I mean they don't eat we are going to be out of surgery's lets go." Cristina rushed out of the cafeteria followed by Meredith Lexie and Alex.

She was frantic she couldn't find her notebook. She felt like she was going to have a heart attack. "What's up?" she turned to see Jackson at her side.

"I lost my note book somewhere I have no idea where."

"Calm down we'll fine it." He patted her arm.

"This hospital is huge I don't think so she shook her head in resignation. She walked away from him. She felt so bare without it. She felt someone grab her and pull her into an on call room shutting the door behind them. "What, what's going on?"

"Shh." She froze she would know that voice anywhere.

"Alex." She turned around to see him.

"Hey April." He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. "Did you misplace something." He held it out to her.

"My book where did you find it?"

"That's not important." He shook his head. "What are you doing here April?"

"I think that's pretty obvious Alex I'm working."

"How come I didn't know you were in Seattle?"

"The same reason I didn't know you were married because you never all you left for Med school and never looked back." She hit him on the arm. "I…." she shook her head never mind.

"You What?"

"Nothing never mind we have work to do." She turned she had been about to say that she'd stayed in bed a month after reading his note that he wasn't coming back she could have said that she had almost failed her first semester of med school but no she wasn't going to give him the chance."

"I'll see you later Doctor Karev."

"April wait." She turned looking at him expectantly.

"What?"

"NO one knows not even my friends they know I'm from Iowa I was a wrestler that's it they don't know about my mom or my siblings."

She shook her head he was still running she was standing in front of him and he was still running away. "Don't worry your secret is safe with me. I won't even act like I know you." She opened the door and walked out. She whispered to herself. "I don't know you anymore anyway.

He leaned against the door and buried his head in his hands. He'd know April Kepner since he was five years old. Her family took him in when ever his mom went off on a binge the Kepners had been his second family his real family and April Kepner had always been his Kryptonite. He'd ran away from his family and her but now it seemed the past was staring him in the face.

"Hey there you are." He opened his eyes to see Izzy staring at him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He shook his head. How do you tell your wife that the love of your life the girl you never got over was now working in the hospital with you?

A/N so this is My AK2 story the premise is that April grew up in Iowa not Ohio and she grew up by Alex and they were teenage sweethearts until everything got to be to much for Alex and he left. Now he's married what will happen to them.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own Grey's anatomy

"Izzy What's wrong?" Alex asked seeing his wife sitting in the dark resident's locker room.

"I… I was… Fired." She sobbed.

"Fired they can't fire you because you have cancer you know that right I'll go to the chief right now." Alex felt a stab of guilt he'd been so preoccupied by April's reappearance in his life that he'd been neglecting his wife. His wife who had just came back to work after months of fighting cancer he really was an ass." He sat next to her wrapping his arms around her.

Izzy laughed bitterly. "Good luck with that since he was the one that fired me."

"That bastard." Alex pounded his fist on the bench.

"Really It had nothing to do with me having cancer it had to do with me messing up a Kidney transplant."

"How?"

"I accidently sucked all the potassium out of a women so she couldn't get her kidney transplant.

"Isobel Stevens Karev how can you be so careless." Alex shook his head. He'd made his own mistakes but he'd been an intern his wife was a resident a resident how should have known better.

"It was that Mercy West resident's fault he got in my head god dame it." She scowled pushing him away from her.

"Really you're blaming it on some guy." Alex shook his head.

"I guess I should really blame it on you." She stood up standing in front of him. "The Chief told me what you said. Thanks so much for the confidence in my ability's sweetheart." She said sarcastically." She grabbed her purse and stormed out of the room slamming the door behind her.

"Great." Alex slummed down on the bench laying on his back and slinging his arm over his face. Sure he'd been to harsh on her he realized that now but Izzy had made more mistakes then most when it came to residency and she was always trying to blame others in it. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Oh." He took his arm away from his face and looked at the woman standing in the doorway.

"Great, Just great just what I needed." He grumbled.

"Sorry I didn't know you were in here." April skidded around him and grabbed the things out of her cubby. "I just need my things I'll be out in a minuet. She turned away from him grabbing the things from her cubby with shaking hands. She shoved everything in her bag and walked towards the door. Her hand on the door knob she turned back to him. "I don't know what's going on with you Alex but I'm sorry."

"No." he sighed "I'm sorry." He Sat up and looked at her. Her face shadowed in the darkness. "You didn't do anything April it's just a bad day." He turned away from her and grabbed the things from his own cubby. She watched the play of his mussels on his back. She bite her lip and hefted her bag higher on her shoulder. She wanted to say so much but she just turned the door knob and left the room. Walking out of Seattle Grace Mercy west she felt the wind hit her face.

"You going home?" she turned to see Jackson walking towards her.

"Yeah." She sighed. "These people are just a little bit crazy."

"That's for sure." Jackson chuckled.

"I'll see tomorrow."

"Yeah tomorrow." Jackson nodded as April got into her car and drove towards the apartment she shared with Reed.

Alex made his way out of the hospital and to his car. He noticed Izzy's car was gone and he figured she'd went home. Pulling in front of the trailer he sighed and tried to brace himself to go into the trailer and face his wife. Getting out of the car the gravel crunched under his feet. He opened the trailer and stopped in his track. He turned in a circle and froze. Everything that had been his wife's was missing the trailer looked so bare. he put his bag on the ground and searched the trailer frantically looking for any evidence of where she'd went but he couldn't find anything not a scrape of evidence to tell him where she'd gone. He grabbed his phone and dialed her number.

"Come on come on." His leg bounced as the phone rang it went to voice mail. "Izzy where the hell are you this isn't funny call me back." He slammed his phone on the table. His life just seemed to be spiraling out of control. He should have known that the minuet his life started to turn around to go well that everything would go to hell. April Kepner was back in his life and his wife had went missing and his emotions were in a spiral. "Izzy where the hell are you." He groaned. He laid against the bed. The exhaustion and worry over took his body and his eyes closed against his will. Before he could protest he was asleep.

A/N thanks to everyone that reviewed. Please review.


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own Grey's anatomy.

"God damn it Izzy answer the phone." Alex stood outside the hospital the phone pressed to his ear. He slammed his phone shut in frustration and shoved it into his coat pocket as it went to voice mail for what felt like the millionth time. he walked into the locker room and didn't even make eye contact with any one as he changed into his scrubs.

April watched him from the corner of her eye. She noticed the lines that formed around his mouth and she knew something was wrong but it wasn't her place to say anything it wasn't her place to comfort him it hadn't been her place in so long. "Hey." She turned her head to see Jackson smiling down at her.

"Oh hey." Her eyes tracked back to Alex. Jackson's eyes followed hers.

"I heard his wife left him just packed up and left after the chief fired her."

"She was Crazy." Charles said wrapping his stethoscope around his neck.

"She just left." April felt her mouth go dry her tongue darted out to wet her lips.

"Yeah poor sucker but that chick was a bit crazy." Reed shoved a note pad and pen into her coat.

"Stop, just stop." April shook her head and slipped her lab coat on. "We have to get to rounds lets go."

"What's her deal?" Reed asked as they followed the red head out of the room.

"No idea." Jackson shrugged. He noticed that Karev seemed to be looking at his best friend though and he narrowed his eyes. Something was going on he just couldn't figure out what it was.

They all gathered to start rounds when Hunt rushed passed them. "Mass Trauma coming in Motel caught on fire." He shouted. Everyone started to run towards the ER throwing Trauma gowns on as they went.

"Here I've got it." April quickly grabbed the lose strings trailing behind Alex as he had his phone pressed to his ear again. "Alex put it away." She whispered. He turned around and glared at her. "Fine." She released the bow she'd made and stepped back hands in the air as they reached the ER and looked at the many people flooding it.

She rushed to the first person that she could find quickly assessing and caring for patients as they needed it. Her eyes seemed to always be on him and when it wasn't she was shaking her head at the other residents trying to garner surgery's and fight each other. Watching it now she really hated the Seattle Grace Mercy West merger. She watched as Alex slammed his phone against the counter before turning to her current patient.

Alex knew she was watching him he always knew it was like he could feel her eyes on him. He couldn't care though not at that moment maybe not ever. Izzy still wasn't answering but he was still torturing himself trying to get in touch with her. He was her husband he figured he deserved some answers.

"Still nothing from Izzy huh." Cristina quirked her eyebrow as she scribbled something on a chart.

"No." he growled turning away.

Not a minuet to stop there wasn't a minuet to stop in that ER that night so when it came down to it no one noticed when the patient in bed two died. And no one stopped until they were pulled into the Chief's office. Someone's head would role Alex had heard that from Hunt's mouth himself but as he looked over at everyone lined up in the hall he wondered whose head it would be.

April sat in front of the chief going over everything that had happened. "I was with the boy ok I wasn't even looking at the girl that was Reed." She said feeling bad about throwing her friend under the bus but she wasn't going to lose her job over something that wasn't her fault.

"Fine send Reed in." Richard sighed. He felt like he was back only a few years and was asking who had cut an L vad wire. After listening to Reed Adamson talk he shook his head and told the girl she was fired. It was cut throat after the merger.

"I hate you." Reed seethed grabbing her coat off the chair and pushing past April.

"Fine I don't care." April shouted after her. Slumping down in her chair.

"Stop staring at me." She barked. As the chief came out into the hall.

"You can all go back to work now but let this be a lesson to you." He stared them all down. As they all scattered. April felt tension in every mussel of her body. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath opening them she was surprised to see Jackson and Charles in front her.

"What?"

"I can't believe you did that?" Charles shook his head.

"What told the truth well I'm sorry." She grabbed a chart and skirted around him not even acknowledging his presence. Her eyes happened to catch Alex as he threw his phone against the wall shattering it into many pieces on the hard hospital floor. His eyes caught hers as she was frozen in place staring down at the destruction on the ground. It felt like forever frozen their eyes locked before Alex pulled his away and bent down to retrieve the broken pieces of the phone which April figured might as well be her heart.

A/N so No April doesn't get fired because I need her in the hospital. Anyway thanks for the reviews and please continue to review.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own Grey's anatomy.

April had taken to sleeping at the hospital since her and Reed shared an apartment and they weren't exactly on speaking terms at the moment. The situation was made even worse though due to the fact that Alex was also living at the hospital. She didn't know why she didn't ask why. No actually she went out of her way to ignore Alex. Did she want to do it not really but he made it clear he didn't really want to be in the same hospital as her let alone the Same room so she'd give him that space. Oh she'd watch him across the room as she watched him now cradling that tiny baby in his arms and she 'd want to reach out and hug him and talk to him like they were children again looking over the crib railing at Amber asleep. She smiled thinking of that moment.

"_April you have to come and see her?" _

"_See who?" April looked up from her homework at her flustered best friend. _

"_My baby sister." _

"_What?" April's mouth had dropped to the ground. _

"_Yeah her name is Amber you should see her." _

"_Did we know your mother was pregnant?" April scrambled up from the table. _

"_No." Alex shook his head. "I should have but she hide it so well and didn't gain any weight. Then she told me and Aaron that she had things to do the other day and didn't come back for a little nothing new then today she came home with a baby." _

"_Because that's not strange at all." April muttered. _

"_Come on April I know my family is f'ed up but she's my baby sister and you have to come and see her." He pulled her out of the house and they ran towards the Even's property. _

"_Wait if your mother was gone for so long and your father is I'm guessing on another of his tours" she used air quotes How come you didn't come over to my house." _

"_I didn't want you to know not again I knew your mother would call CPS if she knew it happened again." Alex muttered. _

"_Alexander Michael Evens." April sighed in exasperation gingerly walking onto the rotting porch of the Even's house and making her way into the house. Just walking into that house made her shiver and wish her mother called CPS more. Though they never really helped Alex and Aaron were always given back to Andrea Karev Evens. She walked towards the wobbly crib in the middle of the room peaking over the railing at the baby. A full head of dark hair and piercing blue eyes. "Hey Amber." She put her finger on the baby's palm. She smiled as she turned towards Alex as he looked at his baby sister adoration shining in his eyes. "She is amazing." April whispered. _

"_She's special." Alex said _

April came out of her memory people running around her in a panic. "Kepner grab that ambo bag now we have a code blue lets go." Bailey yelled. April grabbed it and went racing no longer having time to think of Alex Karev or what he once was in her life.

Alex saw her race by and he shook his head looking down at the baby in his arms. "Don't tell her I told you this but April Jocelyn Kepner is an amazing woman one of the most amazing Women." He shook his head. "To good for me that's sure." He was deep asleep maybe for the first time in days when he was woke up.

"I know why I'm here and I can guess why you're here but the thing is we're both here so we're going to have to learn to coexist. We can't keep ignoring each other." He sleepily blinked up at her.

"April?"

"Who Else." She rolled her eyes taking the tiny baby from him and slipping her under her scrub top and against her skin. Alex watched her and couldn't help but feel jealous of that child.

"So you're not ignoring me anymore."

April sighed and sat down in a rocking chair soothing the baby. I was ignoring you because you made it clear you didn't want to be associated with or your past or both but you know what I am your past and you're mine and we have to deal with that we work together Alex we can't ignore that."

"You always were difficult weren't you?' Alex chuckled darkly.

"Maybe."

He sighed and leaned his elbows on his knees rubbing his sleepy eyes. "Ok April but there are ground rules."

"Such as?" she arched her eye brow in that cute way that had always made him want to pull her close and kiss her.

"Such as, as far as anyone else knows we don't know each other got it?"

"Fine." She agreed grudgingly.

"Secondly I don't want to drudge up the past so just don't April you're always lets talk about our feelings but I won' t have it got it?"

"Still the same Alex." She sighed sadly.

"Lastly no one from home can know do you understand no one."

"I'll never understand it but fine for now fine but if I have to I'll tell do I make my self clear." She looked at him with a steely gaze.

"Fine." He grumbled. He knew April Kepner was stronger willed then most gave her credit for.

"Fine." She nodded. She closed her eyes and smiled. "It's good to have you back Alex."

"Yeah." Alex sighed closing his eyes again. It was good to have April back but it was one of the most painful things ever.

A/N thanks for those that reviewed. Someone asked if April is a virgin in this story. Yes she is but we'll have some flash back dealing with it. In the Flash back Alex is called Alexander Evens because of course Even's is his original surname and he later changed it to Karev his mother's maiden name.


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own Grey's Anatomy.

Just when it seemed April and Alex had found some level ground that they could be friends again it all imploded around them again. Isobel Stevens Karev was back and the hospital was abuzz.

"Why is she here?" Cristina asked looking into the window and seeing Izzy standing there."

" A old friend of her's old school teacher is having some issues so she came." Meredith shrugged.

"Are we acting like this is normal?"

"Nothing much else we can do I mean she's Izzy she'll do what ever the hell she wants she's already proved that." Meredith took her charts and walked away. April had her eyes trained on the room in front of her. She hated that she was seeing this woman again but she took a deep breath and walked into the room. No matter her personal issue's with the woman. She was still in the hospital for treatment of a loved one and sh had to act professional even if it killed her.

"HI I'm Dr. Kepner." She held out her hand to Izzy as she looked over at the patient.

" A Mercy Westener right." Izzy scrunched up her nose and preceded to tell April what had been going on with her mentor. After all the information was taken down April went looking for Alex and found him in a gallery overlooking on of the many surgery's.

"Hey." She sat down the chart on her lap.

"If you're here to talk about my feelings you can leave."

"Nope no feelings talk I promise." April crossed her fingers over her chest.

"So what are you doing here?"

"Ok so maybe I thought you'd want to talk but I'll stay quite I promise." She looked at him. He just shook his head and turned his eyes back to what was going on in the OR. Hours seemed to pass as she charted and he stared down into the OR. Finely he sighed and looked over at her. "I married her because I thought I loved her and I do love her ok I do but she broke me and I'm tired of being broken ok so tired."

April looked at him a mixture of sympathy and empathy in her eyes but she also felt angry she wanted to spat the words don't like how it feels do you but she kept those words deep in her heart buried where they had been for the last seven years. Buried with all the letters that never came all the phone calls she never got.

"You need to talk to her." She kept her eyes on the chart. She longed to say more but this wasn't the place or the time. No this wasn't the time to bring up past demons.

"Don't you think I know that but I can't. I can't talk to her she left and I can't I just can't."

"Fine throw a tantrum up here shut everyone out it's what you do best." She got up and walked away leaving her words ringing in his ears.

"It's what you do best." Her parting shot had hit his heart. He knew he was an Ass he knew he'd hurt April and he knew he didn't deserve to even be apart of her life but April and Izzy they were separate people one he married one he should have married. One he tried fighting for and one he didn't fight for enough. One knew nothing about his life outside of her and this hospital and the other knew everything and too much. He didn't want it to but her words meant everything so he tore his eyes away from what was going on and he went looking for his wife. That word still felt off to him but then it should he barely felt like he was every married.

"Have you seen Izzy."

"Gallery OR 3." Meredith looked up at him. "Are you going to be ok?"

"Fine." He grunted walking away and towards OR 3. He found her sitting there. "We need to talk."

"No we really don't." she didn't even look at him as she stared down into the OR.

He sat behind her. "Izzy you're my freaking wife and you left you just up and left."

She snorted "Yeah left because you betrayed me you yelled at me you told the chief I wasn't up to being back."

"You weren't that doesn't mean you just get to bail on your marriage."

"Alex I tried I tried to look past all the crappy things you've done really I have but you know what you went to far the divorce papers will be in the mail." She grabbed her coat and walked off. Neither of them saw April standing in the shadows she hadn't meant to be there but she'd came to give Izzy an update and got caught hiding. Her blood boiled as she watched Isobel Stevens lash out. She wanted to smack her. She turned on her heal and walked down the stairs until she found the other woman.

"Oh Doctor Kepner do you have any news for me?"

"Yes your friend will be fine." She gave her a run down of what had happened if Isobel noticed an Icy tone she didn't say anything but then why would she. There was no reason that Isobel Stevens would even know who she was no reason that Alex would have shared that part of his life with the pretty blond standing in front of her. Of course he wouldn't he wasn't that type of person. As she watched Isobel Stevens walk out of the hospital she shook her head at what an idiot she was being that she didn't even realize what she was walking away from. Alex Karev might be an Ass might be broken but he loved and he loved deeply and to just throw that away with out fighting was crazy. April knew from experience because she'd fought as hard as she could before admitting she had to give up.

A/N Thanks to those that read and reviewed next up we see the Alex/April fall out of the Izzy visit.


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